Blair fights for fees

TONY Blair insisted that student "top-up" fees were the only fair way to pay for the expansion of the university system. At Prime Minister's Question Time, he said it was wrong that the entire burden of creating extra higher education places should fall on the general taxpayer.

TONY Blair today insisted that student "top-up" fees were the only fair way to pay for the expansion of the university system.

At Prime Minister's Question Time, he said it was wrong that the entire burden of creating extra higher education places should fall on the general taxpayer.

But he was taunted by Tory leader Michael Howard over his own privileged education as a former public schoolboy.

"This grammar school boy is not going to take any lessons from that public school boy on the importance of children from less privileged backgrounds gaining access to university," Mr Howard said to Tory cheers.

But it was the reaction of his own backbenchers which must have most concerned the Prime Minister.

More than 140 Labour MPs have signed a Commons motion critical of the plan - enough to overturn the government's majority when it comes to the vote next month.

Only left-winger Alan Simpson spoke out during Question Time, urging Mr Blair to publish details of the 40 alternative schemes considered by the Department of Education.

Earlier, the Prime Minister was said to have faced some "frank" questions from opponents of the plan when he addressed the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour party.

Legislation

In the Commons, he told MPs: "We need to widen access to our universities. We need to fund it fairly and it is important that we manage to do that without putting all the burden on general taxpayers, the vast majority of whom have not been to university."

Earlier, Education Secretary Charles Clarke said that the government was not prepared to compromise on the principle of variable top-up fees, the most contentious element of the legislation.

He warned potential Labour rebels that it was an "absolutely key element" of the government's proposals and that there was no "Plan B".

Mr Clarke echoed the Prime Minister's warning yesterday that the government's authority would be "seriously weakened" if it was defeated when MPs come to vote on the Bill.

"This proposal is at the heart of building a competitive economy in a very competitive world which must be based on investing in the skills and talents of our people," he said.

"If we fail to get it through, our authority in identifying that challenge is very substantially weakened."

He said that the principle that different universities could charge different fees for different courses was at the heart of the government's proposals.

"Shadow Education Secretary Tim Yeo said there would be no need for top-up fees if the government abandoned its "artificial" target of putting 50 per cent of school-leavers into university. "Nine out of 10 school-leavers with two A-Levels already go to university," he said.

Liberal Democrat education spokesman Phil Willis said the increase in funding for university should come from higher taxes for the better off.